


poetic beauty_verse 1

by meowjunhwi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Creative Writing Major Jaehyun, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Side TenSol, Tattoo Artist Yuta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24369052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meowjunhwi/pseuds/meowjunhwi
Summary: The image of Nakamoto Yuta with the sunset making him look gentler in its light, burns itself onto Jaehyun's mind.He wished he had his camera to capture that specific moment— when he realized maybe he is a little bit in love with his best friend, his Yuta-hyung.But there are other ways to capture a beauty that his naked eyes could see even without the lense of a camera. So he writes.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Nakamoto Yuta
Comments: 10
Kudos: 82





	poetic beauty_verse 1

**Author's Note:**

> finally finished this!! 
> 
> this will only be a part of a series i'm tryna come up with about the mutual pining adventures of jaeyu + tattoo artist yuta is fun to write and imagine and i just might make more of that in different universes hhh.
> 
> also, i'm new to the fandom!! i find yuta & jaehyun's dynamics to be really fun to write and i hope i could write more of them in the future!! pls take care of me & i hope u anticipate my works hh. also! i have a mafia au in the works i hope i could finish it lmao.
> 
> for now, have this and enjoyyy~

Jaehyun was mindlessly staring at the blinking cursor in the almost-empty word document that he is currently trying so hard (and most likely failing) to fill up with words for his essay that is due by Friday.

His fingers hover on the keyboard and books lay open beside his laptop, but still, it seems like literacy has escaped him because he can’t write a damn thing that makes sense.

His phone vibrates and with a defeated sigh, he reaches for it, mood lifting up a little from the notification bar that says he has a new text message from Yuta-hyung.

Yuta was asking if he was busy and Jaehyun didn’t hesitate to answer that no, he isn’t, even though there is an essay in front of him begging to be written.

Better keep his ass off the library chairs and do something else instead of draining all his energy on an essay he can’t write at the moment.

By something else, he meant to keep Yuta company in the tattoo shop that he runs together with his best friend and older brother.

Jaehyun wasted no time, packing his things and leaving the library to make his way to the tattoo shop that stands just outside the school district.

NEO Station is a quaint shop that can’t be missed, what with its flashy neon sign that attracts attention, you just can’t help but turn your head as you pass by.

It is almost 2 years since it started business and has been growing steadily since then, an influx of clients coming in every month shown in the accounting records done by one of their older friends, Moon Taeil.

Jaehyun pushes the door open, the soft jingling of a bell signalling his entrance. It was Tuesday, so R&B music is playing through the speakers (using the turntable that Yuta argued would look cool and awesome as an addition to the shop), filling the otherwise silent space.

“Jaehyun, is that you?” Yuta’s voice rang, followed by a mop of silver hair popping out of the room assigned as his own ever since he started working here. His grin was bright when he confirmed that yes, it was indeed Jaehyun who entered the shop and was now standing by the threshold in his usual blue jeans, cardigan and white shirt.

“Yeah. What’s up?” Jaehyun asked, placing his bag down on one of the couches before approaching Yuta and leaning against the sliding door of his room.

“I’m just preparing my stuff for when the client comes in later. Can you do me a favor, though?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Can you tie my hair?” Yuta requests, eyes shifting into a puppy look that he confidently knows Jaehyun could never say no to, and had been using to his advantage ever since.

“I forgot to tie it before I started refilling my ink and now my gloves are stained and my hair is covering my eyes.”

His hair had grown to a length that reaches his nape ever since they first met a year ago, when it was still the standard short length for a man and back when it was still dyed a shade of strawberry blonde. Jaehyun thinks this longer hair fits him, silver with highlights depending on his mood for the week— so far there was blue and yellow. Now it is a light shade of violet.

“Where are your hair ties?” Jaehyun replied, noticing the absence of the black bands on Yuta’s wrist where he always places one or two so he could tie his hair immediately.

Yuta grins at him, successful and happy, before motioning to one of his drawers with his chin, “Inside the second one. There is a small box there where I place all of my hair accessories.”

Following suit, Jaehyun took two elastic bands and a few hairpins just to clip some of the shorter strands away so it wouldn’t fall on Yuta’s face when he starts working later on.

He stands behind Yuta and blinks, as if remembering that he has no idea how to do it, but shrugs before fumbling with Yuta’s hair and the elastic band.

In the end, it was a bit… messy. And it looks like some strands of Yuta’s hair had been tangled so much in the elastic band that it might hurt when he removes it later.

Well, at least the hair pins look neatly placed.

Jaehyun apologizes and smiles sheepishly when he finishes and Yuta just laughed, bumping their shoulders together softly, “It’s okay, don’t worry. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Do you need me to do anything else?”

“Plug your phone in the speakers and play whatever playlist you want.”

“But I thought Tuesdays are for R&B?”

Yuta just snorts, “Taeyong and Hansol-hyung aren’t around so I’m the boss and I say free music-Tuesday.”

Jaehyun chuckled and gave him a fake salute before he took his phone out of his pocket to do as Yuta said.

*****

When he goes back to his shared dorm room with Ten later that night after he closed the shop with Yuta and grabbed dinner together, he opened the Youtube app in favor of doing research for his essay, searching for tutorials on how to tie short hair and in extension, the other styles that he could do, mainly braids.

If Ten peeks and shoots him a curious followed by a knowing look, then he ignores it, pretending that he was too immersed to acknowledge him which would then lead to a whole night of teasing.

*****

From: Yuta-hyung

**yo are u in the library**

To: Yuta-hyung

_Yeah, I am. Why?_

From: Yuta-hyung

**cool. i’m coming over to work on some of my new tattoo designs**

**was about to work on it in the shop but ten is there and i dont wanna see him and my brother flirting**

To: Yuta-hyung

_How unfortunate._

From: Yuta-hyung

**ikr!!!! :((((**

**usual table?**

To: Yuta-hyung

_Yup. Already reserved a seat for you._

_And ordered a cup of Iced Coffee. Venti._

From: Yuta-hyung

**jae have i told u that u are the absolute best in the world**

**bc u are**

*****

Yuta plopped down on the empty seat beside him with a sigh, not wasting any time to get the venti cup of iced coffee from the table and sipping from the bittersweet goodness.

“Thank you, Jae,” he says as he leans his head against the younger’s shoulder and Jaehyun pauses the motions of his right hand in favor of softly patting Yuta’s head.

“You’re welcome, hyung.”

They elapsed into silence, only filled with the soft chatter of the other students in the library and the occasional flipping of a page from the book beside Jaehyun’s laptop coupled with the sounds of his fingers hitting the keyboard keys. Yuta stayed pressed and leaned against him for a while, head pillowed on Jaehyun’s shoulder and Jaehyun just let him as he typed away on his laptop, already used to the clinginess of the older man as a way of showing his affections, especially to the people he considered dearest and closest to his heart. It took some time for Jaehyun not to stiffen up with every affectionate act and now he just took it in stride, even though his heart still soars in his chest every time Yuta so much as looks at him with a big smile painting his lips and turning his eyes into crescents.

Yuta’s eyes followed the words that spilled like streams of water in the pages of the word file, with a few helpful comments and suggestions in between, sharing his knowledge about art philosophy and making it easier for Jaehyun to organize the thoughts that swim through his head.

Venti cup almost fully-consumed, Yuta went to work on his sketches, hunched over a sketchpad with a pencil in hand and eyes intensely focused on the lines and curves that he drew over the blank white sheet. Sometimes he would pause for a while to observe his partially-done work while unconsciously pressing the tip of the pencil on the bottom of his lip before he mutters a soft ‘ah,’ and continues on with his sketch.

Strands of silver hair fell over his eye as he drew and he would tuck it behind his ear, but then it would fall again and by the fourth time it happened, he couldn’t be bothered to stop that he just let it be.

“Do you have a hair tie?” Jaehyun asked when Yuta sat up to rest his hand for a while, cracking his knuckles and sweeping some strands of hair out of his face.

Yuta just blinked at him in response then he smiled sheepishly, “I forgot to get some in my drawer before I left the shop.”

Jaehyun stopped typing in favor of reaching into his bag for a piece of elastic band, then he faced Yuta, gesturing for his hyung to turn around. Yuta followed suit and with his back to Jaehyun, the younger reached out and gathered strands of Yuta’s silver hair in his hands, delicate and careful, tying it into a neat half-bun on the top of his head so that they wouldn’t hinder his vision when he continues his work.

He taps Yuta on the shoulder once he was done and satisfied with his handiwork, the hours of scrolling through Pinterest and watching Youtube tutorials paying off when Yuta reaches for his phone and opens the front camera to use it as a mirror, humming satisfactorily when he saw the finished product.

“Not bad. A lot better than the last time,” Yuta comments as he pocketed his phone once again, turning to shoot Jaehyun a grin and a thumbs up.

Jaehyun returns it with a dimpled smile, relief evident in the way his shoulders sagged slightly, unaware that he was waiting for Yuta’s approval. It was a small thing, but it makes Jaehyun happy.

*****

With his Friday classes done and art philosophy essay passed, Jaehyun entered NEO Station with Ten, the latter texting him right as his last class for the day ended so they could go together.

The scene that greeted them was Taeyong and Yuta huddled on the counter, tubes of paint scattered on the table top as Yuta painted on Taeyong’s arm, barely lifting his head to acknowledge the arrival of the two boys as he was too immersed in what he is currently doing.

“Hello babe,” Hansol-hyung greets as he appears from his work room, approaching them to give Ten a kiss on the cheek.

“Keep your hands to yourselves,” Yuta warns playfully, eyes still focused on Taeyong’s arm and the image that is slowly coming together.

“Shut up,” Hansol answers back playfully before turning to nod in greeting at Jaehyun, “Yo, Jaehyun. Piercing?”

“Not today, hyung,” Jaehyun answers with a smile. It had already been some sort of a routine for Hansol to ask him if he will be getting a piercing when he goes to the shop just to hang out, and even though Jaehyun had considered the thought many times, he still refused. Hansol always smiles at him and ruffles his hair after he answers, telling him to just inform him if he wants to finally get one for himself.

At the mention of Jaehyun and finally aware of his presence, Yuta’s head snapped up, attention now on him instead of the painting on Taeyong’s arm (the other artist busy playing one-handedly on his phone, Flappy Bird if Jaehyun is going to guess from the sounds), a smile on his face.

“Hello, Jaehyun.”

“Hi, hyung.”

Yuta raises a hand, wet with paint, then points to his silver hair, some strands scattered on the sides of his face, “Help me tie my hair?”

Taeyong scoffs and whispers something under his breath that made Yuta reach over and smear red paint on his cheek using his finger, making Taeyong bat his hand away annoyingly.

Jaehyun reaches into his pocket for an elastic band (at this point he made sure he has one or two with him everyday plus some hair pins in the pocket of his bag, just to be sure), and puts his backpack down on the couch before he walks over to the chair where Yuta is currently sitting.

If he paid attention, he would’ve noticed Hansol raising an eyebrow in curiosity and Ten watching them with a knowing glint in his eyes, pulling Hansol down a bit to whisper in his ear.

But as what usually happens the moment he is within Yuta’s presence, his attention is solely fixed on him. So, ignoring the feeling of Ten’s eyes on him, he stands behind Yuta and ties his hair in a simple bun on top of his head, keeping the shorter strands in place using some hair pins that Taeyong fished out from the drawer in the counter table.

“Twin kois with sakura branches?” Jaehyun asks when he sees the almost-finished piece on Taeyong’s arm.

“Yup! I got inspired with Japanese-style tattoos recently so I’ve been practicing and experimenting with them lately.”

“He’s been pestering me about painting on my skin too for the past few days. It was getting annoying,” Taeyong butted in, earning him an eye roll from Yuta who answered with, “You ended up caving in anyway. So, who’s the real winner here?”

Taeyong didn’t dignify him with an answer and returned to playing on his phone instead while Yuta conversed with Jaehyun as he continued painting. On the other hand, Ten and Hansol disappeared to who knows where.

“It looks good,” Jaehyun supplies as he watched Yuta work, eyes following the movement of his brush and sometimes bare fingers stained with different shades as it traced washable ink on Taeyong’s skin, producing a harmonious mixture of colors that makes up the wonderful image of twin koi fishes.

“Good enough to be tattooed permanently on your skin?” Yuta asks, sparing him a glance and a smirk.

“Maybe. Still open for other designs, though.”

“Why don’t you just let Yuta paint on your skin so you two could know what designs you want?” Taeyong suggests, the words leaving his mouth making Yuta’s eyes sparkle as he turns to Jaehyun.

The proposal hasn’t left his lips yet and Jaehyun knows he will already say yes.

“Jaehyunnie~ are you free tomorrow?”

“Yes."

“Great! I’m coming over!”

Yuta was practically buzzing with excitement and it spilled onto Jaehyun as he found himself looking forward to what Yuta had in mind for the picture that he will be painting on Jaehyun’s skin tomorrow.

“Good luck being a human canvas,” Taeyong quips and Jaehyun really doesn’t mind.

*****

The first piece was elegantly done on Jaehyun’s back— a kitsune mask surrounded by peonies. It was only colored in three hues: black, white and red, but somehow it still gives out a very strong but delicate appearance.

“I like kitsunes,” Yuta explains when he started painting on the bare skin of Jaehyun’s back, paintbrush in hand and his breath slightly fanning over Jaehyun’s skin as he leaned in close to paint a small detail of a flower, “I’ve always wanted to see what they would look like as tattoos made by myself.”

“As for peonies,”

Jaehyun’s breath got caught in his throat when he turned his head around slightly and saw the unmistakable soft and tender affection swimming in Yuta’s eyes when they met Jaehyun’s dark brown ones.

“They’re soothing to look at and I heard that they symbolize beauty and romance.”

*****

Jaehyun learns to wound strands of Yuta’s silver hair into braids as the weeks pass by and his confidence grows.

Silver strands turned red when he had it dyed at the beginning of autumn, and Jaehyun can’t help but marvel at the wonderful sight that Yuta makes when standing in front of the orange and brown hues of the autumn scene.

“Are you almost done?” Yuta asked from where he had his head bowed in front of Jaehyun who was fixing his hair gently in a Dutch braid.

“Just a little bit more. Does your neck hurt?”

“It’s fine. I can manage a few more minutes,” Yuta answers and Jaehyun knows it’s a lie, so he lets Yuta use his thigh as a pillow to soothe the ache that he is starting to feel on his nape.

It didn’t take long for him to finish, tying it again into a bun on top of Yuta’s head, then he patted him, saying he was done.

Yuta sits up and moves his head side by side to remove the cranky feeling in his neck and reaches for his phone to look at the finished product of Jaehyun’s handiwork.

“Do you want some hairpins for the shorter strands?” Jaehyun asks, already rifling through the small box where he puts all the hair ties and pins that he had bought.

“Nah, I think it looks better this way,” Yuta replies, fixing his bangs before pocketing his phone. “Do you want to go grab some coffee and pizza?”

“Sure.”

*****

“Another set of hair ties?” Jungwoo asks as Jaehyun pulls him into a small shop with a powder pink interior, different kinds of hair accessories hanging on the walls.

Eyes scan the assortment of accessories and Jaehyun gets himself a packet each of black and translucent hair bands, and black and gold-colored hair pins (small & large ones, Yuta-hyung likes using them to clip one side of his hair when he isn’t painting or tattooing).

“Yeah, for Yuta-hyung,” Jaehyun answers absent-mindedly as he reaches out for a hair clip with a pink flower embellishment, and another with a blue butterfly.

“This would look nice on him, right,” Jaehyun asks Jungwoo who turns to look at him and the younger boy hums as he studies the clips, lips pursing as he tries to picture it on Yuta’s hair.

“Yeah, they will,” he replies not long and Jaehyun puts those in the small basket too, ignoring the knowing look Jungwoo throws at him.

*****

Jaehyun loves seeing Yuta paint and draw.

He admires his talent and the skill that he developed over the course of years, evident in the expert way his hands move over the paper or the canvas, or on any surface he deems perfect for the next artistic piece he has in mind.

He admires the colors and the lines, the harmonious mix of elements that make up each piece, wonderfully done with skill and patience.

He admires the determination, in the set of his eyebrows as he concentrates on what he does, the fire in his eyes, never once extinguished, as he speaks about art and acts on it.

For Yuta, art is freedom, and Jaehyun loves seeing him in his pure artistic form, wings spread apart as he readies himself for flight.

For Yuta, art is expression, and Jaehyun admires the way he holds himself— not allowing others to dictate the way he lives his life because he lives for himself; not allowing the society to contain the potential that lives inside of him because Yuta knows he could do more, he could say more and he uses his art to express himself and his emotions in its purest and even most fragile and vulnerable forms.

Jaehyun loves seeing Yuta paint and draw, each piece an extension of himself, a representation of the wonders that live inside his mind.

“How’s the poem going?” Yuta asks as he takes a break from painting, putting the paintbrush and palette down as he cracks his finger and moves his neck side to side to remove the crankiness.

He turns to look at Jaehyun, and the younger is taken aback for a moment, Yuta’s question forgotten as the older man is framed by the golden halo of the setting sun, hues in shades of yellow and orange mixing and flowing through the glass windows of Yuta’s painting room.

Jaehyun wished he has his camera right now to capture this moment— a peaceful lull in the atmosphere that surrounds them, room bare save for the easels and brushes and canvases that line the floor and the walls, some hung up and some simply leaning, a chair on the side and a canvas set up to paint on, Yuta sitting in front of it, hair set up in a braid done by Jaehyun’s careful hands.

“Jae?” Yuta stands up and walks over to where he is seated on the floor, leaning against the wall. Jaehyun blinks and looks at Yuta now squatting in front of him and eyeing the empty piece of paper on his lap.

“No luck?”

“None yet,” Jaehyun answered as he straightened himself. He chanced one look at Yuta— at the round and expressive eyes, some strands falling on his face, kissing his cheek stained with yellow paint.

“But I think I’m coming up with something,” he continues.

Yuta reaches forward to ruffle his hair affectionately, just as he always does ever since they became friends, and his eyes turned into crescents as he pursed his lips in a gentle smile, “Well, I think you’ll do amazing, as you always do. Let me read them once you’re done?”

Jaehyun nods and Yuta gives his hair one last ruffle before he stands up and sits down in front of his canvas, ready to work again.

Jaehyun looks a bit more and takes him in, takes the scene in front of him and a stream of words continuously flow on the blank paper, lines now being filled up with the ink of his pen.

Yuta’s art is paint brushes and easels and canvases, images meticulously drawn in lines and colors and angles skillfully mixed as they form an image for everyone to see.

Jaehyun’s art on the other hand is poetry— images poetically drawn with the use of words and sometimes rhymes, woven into a piece that depicts his deepest feelings, a tuneless song yet colorful and harmonious all the same.

And now Jaehyun tells a story of sunsets in Seoul, escaping the hustle bustle of the city as he holes up in this empty-yet-not room. He tells a story, through the poem being written on this page of his notebook slowly being filled, of a painter whose colors spilled into Jaehyun’s life turning anything monochrome into something vibrant and more alive.

Jaehyun tells a story of Nakamoto Yuta and the smile on his face and the way the sunset colors make him look even gentler and softer in its dimming light.

A pen continues to scribble on paper and a paintbrush continues to travel along the expanse of the canvas, each ready to form different pieces of art to express their owner’s thoughts and feelings.

In the silence of the room, only those were heard accompanied by the distant sounds of the fast-paced city and their breathing that fills the air.

It is peaceful and calm, both things he associates with Yuta, and maybe, Jaehyun realizes as he reads over the words that he wrote half unconscious and half not, maybe he is a little bit in love with Nakamoto Yuta all along.


End file.
